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    <title>Help On LaTeX Special Characters</title>

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<h2>Special Characters</h2>


<p>The following characters play a special role in LaTeX and are

    called special printing characters, or simply special characters.</p>



<pre>

     # $ % & ~ _ ^ <tt>\</tt> { }

</pre>


<p>Whenever you put one of these special characters into your

    file, you are doing something special, as described below.</p>


<p>If you simply want the character to be printed just as any

    other letter, include a <tt>\</tt> in front of the

    character. For example, <tt>\$</tt> will produce $ in your output.</p>


<p>Exceptions to this rule: </p>


<ul>

    <li><tt>\</tt> itself because <tt><a href="ltx-181.html">\\</a></tt>

        has its own special meaning. Use <tt>$\backslash$</tt>.
    </li>

    <li><tt>~</tt> and <tt>^</tt> because <tt>\~</tt> and <tt>\^</tt> produce

        <a href="ltx-401.html">accents</a>. Use

        <tt><a href="ltx-342.html">\verb</a></tt> or the

        <a href="ltx-79.html">verbatim environment</a>.
    </li>

</ul>


<h3>#</h3>


<p>The number (pound) sign is used to define use of arguments,

    for example, in the <tt><a href="ltx-18.html">\newcommand</a></tt>

    command.</p>


<h3>$</h3>


<p>The dollar sign is used to delineate

    <a href="ltx-115.html#math">math</a> and

    <a href="ltx-421.html">displaymath</a> Enviroments.</p>


<h3>%</h3>


<p>The percent sign is used to insert

    <a href="ltx-434.html">Comments</a> in the input file, and

    to allow line breaks without generating a space.</p>


<h3>&amp;</h3>


<p>The ampersand is used to separate items in the

    <a href="ltx-202.html">array</a> and

    <a href="ltx-68.html">tabular</a> Enviroments.</p>


<h3>~</h3>


<p>The tilde generates a <a href="ltx-143.html">nonbreaking

    space</a> To create a tilde in the output, use

    <tt><a href="ltx-342.html">\verb</a></tt> or the

    <a href="ltx-79.html">verbatim environment</a> (or cheat by

    using <tt>\~{}</tt>, i.e., placing a

    <a href="ltx-401.html">tilde accent</a> over a "blank"

    letter).</p>


<h3>_</h3>


<p>The underscore is used to create

    <a href="ltx-179.html">subscripts</a>.</p>


<h3>^</h3>


<p>The carat (circumflex) symbol generates

    <a href="ltx-180.html">superscripts</a>. To create a carat in

    the output use <tt><a href="ltx-342.html">\verb</a></tt> or the

    <a href="ltx-79.html">verbatim environment</a>.</p>


<h3>\ , { , and }</h3>


<p>The backslash and braces are used in

    <a href="ltx-17.html">command</a> definitions, for enclosing

    command arguments, and for delimiting scopes of

    <a href="declarations.html">declarations</a>.</p>


<hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


<p>

    See also <a href="input.html">Input to LaTeX</a><br>

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